Chapter Thirteen Groups & Teams

Increasing Cooperation, Reducing Conflict

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Copyright 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved.

Groups & Teams

Group
two or more freely acting individuals who share collective norms, collective goals, and have a common identity

13 - 2

Groups & Teams

Team
small group of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable

13 - 3

Stages of Group and Team Development

Figure 13.1
13 - 4

Size: Small Teams or Large Teams?

Small teams: 2-9 members
better interaction better morale

Disadvantages
Fewer resources Possibly less innovation Unfair work distribution

13 - 5

Size: Small Teams or Large Teams?

Large Teams: 10-16 members
More resources Division of labor

Disadvantages
Less interaction Lower morale Social loafing
Social loafing tendency of people to exert less effort when working in groups than when working alone
13 - 6

Roles & Norms

Roles
a socially determined expectation of how an individual should behave in a specific position
Task roles, maintenance roles

Norms
general guidelines that most group or team members follow

13 - 7

Cohesiveness & Groupthink

Cohesiveness
tendency of a group or team to stick together

Groupthink
a cohesive groups blind unwillingness to consider alternatives

13 - 8

Ways to Build Collaborative Teams

Investing in signature relationship practices Modeling collaborative practices Creating a gift culture Ensuring the requisite skills Supporting a strong sense of community Assigning team leaders that are both task and relationship oriented Building on heritage relationships Understanding role clarity and task ambiguity
13 - 9

Symptoms of Groupthink
Invulnerability, inherent morality, and stereotyping of opposition Rationalization and self-censorship Illusion of unanimity, peer pressure, and mindguards Groupthink versus the wisdom of the crowds

13 - 10

The Nature of Conflict

Conflict
process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party

13 - 11

Relationship Between Level of Conflict and Level of Performance

Figure 13.2

13 - 12

Seven Causes of Conflict

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Competition for scarce resources Time pressure Inconsistent goals or reward systems Ambiguous jurisdictions Status differences Personality clashes Communication failures
13 - 13

Five Conflict-Handling Styles

Avoiding - Maybe the problem will go away Accommodating Lets do it your way Forcing You have to do it my way Compromising Lets split the difference Collaborating Lets cooperate to reach a win-win solution that benefits both of us

13 - 14

Devices to Stimulate Constructive Conflict

1. Spur competition among employees 2. Change the organizations culture & procedures 3. Bring in outsiders for new perspectives 4. Use programmed conflict

13 - 15

REVISION
1. (p. 407) Fifteen employees from the

Springfield plant are meeting with Human Resources staff to learn about new benefits. This is an example of team commitment.

FALSE These employees are a group-two or more freely interacting individuals who share collective norms, share collective goals (meeting with HR to learn about benefits), and have a common identity (employees from the Springfield plant).
13 - 16

 2. (p. 412) A leader can help ease the transition of a group after adjourning by rituals celebrating "the end" and "new beginnings.

TRUE
Parties, award ceremonies, graduations, or mock funerals can provide the needed punctuation at the end of a significant teamwork project.
13 - 17

 3. (p. 416) Norms are seldom discussed openly, and have a powerful influence on group and organizational behavior.

TRUE
Norms point up the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Although norms are typically unwritten and seldom discussed openly, they have a powerful influence on group and organizational behavior.
13 - 18

 4. (p. 425) The conflict-handling style of accommodating is appropriate for complex or worsening problems.

FALSE
Accommodating is allowing the desires of the other party to prevail. This may be an appropriate strategy when it's possible to get something in return or when the issue isn't important to you. It's not appropriate for complex or worsening problems.
13 - 19

 5. (p. 425) The weakness of the "collaborating" conflict-handling technique is that it provides only a temporary fix and does not deal with the underlying problem.

FALSE
The strength of collaborating is its longerlasting impact because it deals with the underlying problem, not just its symptoms.
13 - 20

13 - 21